History tells us that in 109 years of rugby league in Australia, no team has won a first-grade grand final after conceding 50 points in a match during the season, and after the Eels’ 54-0 loss to the Manly Sea Eagles yesterday, I’m not sure that Parramatta have the ability to be the first team to do so.

Yesterday, I drove for over an hour to sit in 40-plus degree heat and watch my team lose by over 50 points. It doesn’t get much tougher as a fan than that.

They say that premierships aren’t won in March and for many clubs (after their performances in round one), they will be counting their lucky stars there is still a long season ahead.

To use another one of my favourite rugby league clichés, “a week is a long time in footy” and there are a couple of teams which will have taken “a long hard look at themselves” and will put in dramatically improved performances this weekend.

It was the stuff that fairytales are made of at McDonald Jones Stadium on Friday night when the Newcastle Knights won their opening game of the season against the Manly Sea Eagles 19-18 in a golden point thriller.

We know that premierships are not won and finals berths are not earnt in Round 1, but that win was a fitting reward for the 23,516 fans in attendance – a crowd so good that it was Newcastle’s third-biggest first-round attendance since the club was welcomed into the NRL competition in 1998.

The world celebrated International Women’s Day on Thursday and when it comes to rugby league, it always reminds me just how much we have to celebrate in our game.

It’s a day which gives men and women the opportunity to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, share key social messages about diversity and inclusion and recognise the importance of continuing to press for a more gender-equal world.

Yesterday was International Women’s Day, which is always an opportunity to reflect on how far we have come on our journey towards gender equality, but also a reminder of how much work we still have to do.

When it comes to sport, we have had plenty of moments to celebrate in the last 12 months.

It’s been a long off season, very long for those who don’t follow another sport in the alternate months. 157 days, 22 weeks or five months to be precise, but the wait is over. NRL Season 2018 is finally here…and aren’t fans buzzing?

This is my favourite part of the season because at this particular point my team (and every other one) can win the premiership. The mistakes and disappointments of last year have (almost) been forgotten and it really is a fresh start for each of the 16 sides.

We are six sleeps away from the start of the 2018 NRL season and I couldn’t be more excited to watch the opening game between the St George Illawarra Dragons and the Brisbane Broncos on Thursday night at Jubilee Oval. At 8.05pm when that whistle blows, the season will officially begin and the march towards September begins.

Because there’s still almost a week until the season kicks off, it means I have time to make some bold predictions about the year ahead.

TodayThe Roarcontinues its countdown of the top 50 NRL players with 20 through to 11.

Compiling my top 50 was exceptionally difficult so it has been fascinating to see how my list, combined with the list of the other experts, has turned out. Suffice to say after seeing the results, it’s clear that I missed a couple of players – and that other rugby league experts think much higher of Blake Ferguson and Darius Boyd than I do.

So here’s the next instalment ofThe Roar’stop 50 players. How many of them make your list?